There Is Vacancy

In the final quarter of 2010 "there were 18.4 million vacant homes in the U.S.," Diana Olick reports:

Eleven percent of the houses in America are empty. This as builders start to get more bullish, and renting apartments becomes ever more popular. Vacancies in the apartment sector have been falling steadily and dramatically, why? Because we're still recovering emotionally from the toll of the housing crash.

I don't know whether that number is a surprise to folks who watch these things closely, but it's staggering to me. All those homes sitting empty. That can't be economically efficient, can it? I'd be interested to better understand what's going on.

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